It’s not too often you hear of a long snapper getting drafted but hey they play a vital role on teams too.

With the 25th pick in the 6th round (198th overall), the Patriots took long snapper Jake Ingram from the Hawai’i Warriors. They also took defensive lineman Myron Pryor from the Kentucky Wildcats with the 34th pick (207th overall) in the 6th round.

The Patriots will have two picks in the 7th round.

With their only pick in the 5th round (170th overall), the New England Patriots have selected offensive lineman George Bussey from the Louisville Cardinals.

Bussey will provide some more depth for the offensive line.

The New England Patriots announced via their Twitter page that they have traded veteran cornerback Ellis Hobbs to the Philadelphia Eagles for two 5th round picks (137, 141) in this year’s draft.

Hobbs was set to be a free agent at the end of this season and will join former Patriot Asante Samuel in the secondary.

The Patriots then traded those two picks from the Eagles to the Baltimore Ravens for a 4th round pick (123) and a 6th round pick (198).

With the 123rd overall pick (4th round) that they acquired from the Ravens, they picked up another offensive lineman in Rich Ohrnberger from the Penn State Nittany Lions.

The New England Patriots entered the 3rd round of today’s draft with four picks but at the end they only selected two players because of trades.

They traded their first pick in the 3rd round (73) to the Jacksonville Jaguars for their 2009 7th round pick (232) and a 2010 2nd round pick.

With the 83rd pick (19th in the 3rd Round), the Patriots took wide receiver Brandon Tate from North Carolina. Tate missed the latter part of the 2008 season with some torn knee ligaments but should be ready to compete for a position on the Patriots. Tate could also help out on special teams as a returner.

The Patriots then picked up another 2nd round pick in 2010 when they traded their 3rd round pick (89th overall) to the Tennessee Titans. They now have 3 picks in the 2nd round of next year’s draft.

The final pick for the Patriots in the 3rd round (97th overall) was a compensatory pick and couldn’t be traded. They used that pick to take outside linebacker Tyrone McKenzie from the South Florida Bulls.

The Patriots won’t pick again until the end of the 5th round unless a trade is made.

The New England Patriots got some offensive line help tonight when they took Houston Cougars offensive lineman Sebastian Vollmer with the 58th overall pick (2nd round).

With the 40th overall pick (2nd round), the New England Patriots have selected defensive lineman Ron Brace from the Boston College Eagles.

The Patriots traded up to the 40th spot to get him with the Oakland Raiders their #47 and #124 and #199.

After trading away their draft picks in the 1st round of the NFL Draft, the New England Patriots have finally made a selection and have chosen safety Patrick Chung from the Oregon Ducks.

The Patriots traded their 23rd overall pick in the 1st round to the Baltimore Ravens for the 26th overall pick and a 5th round selection (162nd overall).

They then made another trade with Green Bay, trading away pick #26 (1st Round) and #162 (5th Round) in exchange for Green Bay’s #41 (2nd round), #73 (3rd round) and #83 (3rd round).

The New England Patriots announced today that they will use Twitter to announce their 2009 NFL Draft picks tomorrow and Sunday.

Here’s the full release from the Patriots:

The New England Patriots will use Twitter to announce their 2009 draft picks in real time. Each of the Patriots’ picks during the NFL Draft this weekend will be announced at Twitter.com/realpatriots, the official Twitter feed of the New England Patriots.

Following the draft, the “RealPatriots” Twitter feed will be used to distribute official Patriots information, including player transactions, player appearances and other official announcements from the team’s public relations staff.

“We might even get a few draft picks out via Twitter before they are announced on TV, so any Patriots fans following the draft closely are encouraged to begin following RealPatriots on Twitter,” said Patriots Vice President of Media Relations Stacey James. “Of course this is the first time we are attempting this, so it should be interesting.”

Patriots.com, the team’s official website, also has a Twitter feed available at Twitter.com/patriotsdotcom, where fans can get additional analysis and updates from the Patriots Football Weekly staff along with links to updated content.

New England Patriots: The 2009 schedule has been released by the NFL and for the New England Patriots, the game features four prime-time games, including the game against the Buffalo Bills on the opening weekend. It also includes a trip to London to take on the Tampa Bay Buccanneers. [2009 New England Patriots Schedule]

*subject to flexible scheduling